Bellingcat has recognized a minimum of 80 police stations or infrastructure associated to regulation enforcement companies and the Basij paramilitary group that has been broken or destroyed within the first three weeks of america and Israel’s battle in opposition to Iran. Consultants advised Bellingcat that each nations intention to degrade the Iranian regime’s “repressive capability”.
Mixed, the US and Israel have performed 1000’s of strikes throughout the course of the 2026 battle in Iran. Targets vary from Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) websites, Navy vessels to Iranian weapons producers.
In early March, a Bellingcat evaluation utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery and accessible pictures and movies recognized police stations as one other obvious goal, with a minimum of 15 broken or destroyed within the capital, Tehran.
We additionally recognized a number of strikes in opposition to police infrastructure within the nation’s north and west; these areas had been focused by the Israel Defence Forces in keeping with a map launched by the IDF on March 31.
“We’re offering the courageous folks of Iran with the circumstances to take their future into their very own fingers,” declared the Israeli Ministry of International Affairs official X account, together with a photograph of a destroyed police station.
اینجا کلانتری ۱۲۱ سلیمانیه در خیابان نبرد تهران بود.
ما شرایطی را برای مردم شجاع ایران فراهم میکنیم تا سرنوشت خود را در دست بگیرند. pic.twitter.com/VSm6YVvIwZ— اسرائیل به فارسی (@IsraelPersian) March 5, 2026
In all, nearly all of strikes Bellingcat analysed centered on police stations (30 incidents) and command facilities or headquarters (29 incidents). Places additionally embody websites associated to Basij, a plainclothes paramilitary organisation (9) affiliated with the IRGC that had been “concerned within the lethal crackdown” of protests in January 2026, others are related to particular forces (3) and visitors (2) or diplomatic (2) police compounds.
On account of business satellite tv for pc corporations limiting entry to imagery over Iran and neighbouring nations we relied on Sentinel-2 imagery knowledge to assist confirm the incidents, in addition to movies and pictures, a few of which had been additionally verified by impartial geolocators and contributors to the Geoconfirmed volunteer group and confirmed by Bellingcat researchers.
Location knowledge was partly decided utilizing open supply mapping knowledge both from Wikimapia, OpenStreetMap or Google Maps. When video footage or pictures had been accessible for incidents reportedly focusing on police stations, the situation was verified with geolocation and satellite tv for pc imagery evaluation utilizing both Planet Labs medium decision PlanetScope knowledge (restricted to imagery collected by March 9) or low decision Sentinel-2 knowledge.
Some places had been found utilising location knowledge taken from OpenStreetMap utilizing Overpass Turbo and evaluating that with accessible Sentinel-2 knowledge all through Iran.
Map displaying geolocated incidents in Iran. Click on the markers to view the coordinates, sources, and verification notes. Map: Bellingcat/Miguel Ramalho
A Downside of Scale
Israel has launched a number of movies displaying the focusing on of bases and checkpoints belonging to the Basij. In mid-March, the IDF introduced the killing of the paramilitary group’s commander, Gholamreza Soleimani.
Concentrating on the Basij is a part of Israel’s and the US’ agenda “to degrade the regime’s repressive capability,” Ali Vaez, the director of Worldwide Disaster Group Iran Mission, advised Bellingcat. Police stations are “not concerned in repression in the best way that crowd management police or Basij facilities are”, so focusing on them “seems extra aimed toward stopping the Islamic Republic from with the ability to keep management internally,” he mentioned.
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Vaez advised Bellingcat that, when thought-about alongside the broader vary of targets, together with industrial factories, the widespread focusing on of police stations is a part of a technique “to make Iran ungovernable for the prevailing regime or no matter comes after”.
Vaez was skeptical concerning the quick time period results: “It’s an issue of scale. Iran is such a big nation, even when you’ll be able to utterly destroy, not simply degrade, the capability of the regime in policing, oppressing, and many others – it actually requires not simply possibly weeks however possibly months if not years.”
The Threat of Civilian Casualties
As of April 7, the Iranian Human Rights Activists Information Company estimates there’ve been greater than 1,700 civilian fatalities throughout the battle.
A number of police stations are located in densely populated city areas comparable to Tehran. Stations are utilized by civilians for varied causes together with renewing driving licences, so if these buildings are focused “throughout working hours and never in the course of the night time then danger is greater for these folks,” Vaez mentioned.
Map displaying geolocated incidents in Tehran. Click on the markers to view the coordinates, sources, and verification notes. Map: Bellingcat/Miguel Ramalho
A current joint Airwars, Middle for Civilians in Battle and Human Rights Activists in Iran report detailing the primary month of civilian casualties included a piece on the worsening state of affairs for detainees in Iranian prisons — together with police stations which were focused.
“I used to be detained within the holding cell of [Police Station 148] for ten days, together with 4 different activists. Now it seems like nothing is left of that station however ruins. I can’t even acknowledge the place the detention space was. I hold questioning what occurred to the individuals who had been being held there throughout the assault. – Activist, advised HRA upon seeing pictures of the police station after current US/Israeli airstrikes.”
Footage shared and geolocated by the BBC’s Shayan Sardarizadeh confirmed Police Station 148 broken after an obvious strike in mid-March.
The principle constructing of Tehran’s 148 police station and its courtyard, positioned on Enghelab Road, has been severely broken in air strikes performed on Friday.
The adjoining Hamoon Theatre additionally sustained some injury.
Video: @Vahid
Location: 35.700812, 51.402163@GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/9sdOtHd2XN— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 14, 2026
One destroyed police station recognized by Bellingcat within the metropolis of Mahabad in northwestern Iran led to obvious injury to an Iranian Pink Crescent Society constructing positioned subsequent door. Based on Iran’s Tasnim Information company (an IRGC-affiliated media outlet sanctioned by the EU, the US and Canada), one Pink Crescent worker was injured within the assault.
The police station adjoining to the Pink Crescent constructing isn’t recognized on any mapping providers, although there are stories “Police Station 11” was focused the identical day.
Israel has additionally focused checkpoints operated by Basij members.
Bellingcat examined two circumstances displaying Israeli strikes on checkpoints whereas civilians had been passing. In one video, a strike hits a checkpoint as 5 motorbikes and a car go by.
In one other IDF video, a yellow bus is instantly adjoining to the checkpoint when it’s hit. It’s unclear how many individuals had been on the bus on the time of the strike or if anybody was injured.
Based on the Open Supply Munitions Portal (OSMP), Israeli drones generally make use of the Mikholit bomb. A variant of this bomb has 890 grams of explosives, an quantity that creates hazardous fragmentation as much as 104 meters away.
“I’ve been watching the reporting on these Basij strikes and the usage of the Mikholit particularly in open city areas. It’s IDF normal—utilizing precision munitions and even typically “low collateral” munitions however in a reckless method that also places the civilian inhabitants in danger,” Wes J. Bryant, a defence and nationwide safety analyst previously with the Pentagon’s Civilian Safety Middle of Excellence advised Bellingcat.
Questions Over Legality
Worldwide Humanitarian Legislation defines civilians as “individuals who will not be members of the armed forces”. Cops fall below that definition, in keeping with Adil Haque, Professor of Legislation at Rutgers College and Government Editor at Simply Safety. “As a rule, police are civilians and is probably not attacked until they take a direct half in hostilities,” Haque advised Bellingcat. Nationwide safety analyst Bryant agreed, including that focusing on police “doesn’t stand as much as authorized scrutiny”.
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In an e mail to Bellingcat, the IDF famous “that the police kind a part of Iran’s inside safety equipment, which additionally kinds a part of Iran’s armed forces, below Iran’s personal home laws. In each strike, the IDF takes possible precautions to be able to mitigate incidental hurt to civilians and civilian objects to the extent attainable below the circumstances.”
Police are certainly “a part of the nation’s armed forces. By that logic, something with a flag on it’s a reliable goal,” Ali Vaez, the director of Worldwide Disaster Group Iran Mission, mentioned.
Though Basij is a paramilitary group, any strikes in opposition to it will require precautions to minimise hurt to civilians, Haque advised Bellingcat. “For the reason that hostilities nearly fully contain aerial bombardment, the concrete and direct navy benefit anticipated from strikes on Basij members who qualify as combatants is extraordinarily low, so important hurt to close by civilians could be disproportionate and unlawful,” he mentioned.
When requested about potential civilian casualties within the checkpoint strikes, the IDF advised Bellingcat that for the reason that Basij are subordinate to the IRGC and are subsequently a part of the armed forces, they’re thought to be lawful navy targets. Relating to the checkpoint strikes particularly, they said “precision munitions and surveillance means had been used within the strikes, as a part of the precautions taken below the circumstances to mitigate anticipated incidental hurt”.
Bellingcat reached out to US Central Command (CENTCOM) to ask if the US had any position within the police station strikes recognized however acquired no official remark on the time of publication.
The information collected to this point for these websites may be discovered right here.
Miguel Ramalho and Felix Matteo Lommerse contributed to this report.
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